Trekking in a winter nightmare-land
by superalicat
Summary: A little YuiAzu drabble I wrote a couple years ago. When the Light Music Club, now in college, decides to go on a winter break trip together, skiing-and chaos-ensues. Yui and Azusa get stuck in the woods together, to Yui's delight and Azusa's annoyance, trying to search for Yui's lost mitten. Will they make it out before they freeze..or in Yui's case, in time for dinner?


Title: Trekking in a winter nightmare-land

Characters: Azusa, Yui, Mugi, Mio, Ritsu

"Here I go!" shouted Ritsu Tainaka, swinging her ski poles enthusiastically. Mio Akiyama and Azusa Nakano, standing next to her, nodded and gripped their own poles tightly. Ritsu started down the slope with the other two following her.

Meanwhile, on the beginners' course, Yui Hirasawa started down the extremely short hill, screeching her lungs off, with Mugi Kotobuki behind her, navigating with obvious skill. The other three weren't exactly sure why she'd gone on the beginners' course except to keep Yui company. Yui narrowly dodged a tree, but one of her skis caught on a rock and she went sprawling to the snow-covered ground, squealing and giggling as Mugi easily sped past her. Yui eventually got up, took off the skis, and walked down the hill to meet Mugi at the bottom.

To celebrate their first winter break together at the same school again-now that Azusa was in their same college, they were spending more and more time together-Mugi treated them all to a ski trip in the mountains. Mio and Ritsu had only gone skiing a couple of times back in middle school, Azusa knew how already, and if Yui knew how at all, she'd completely forgotten. This time they weren't staying at a private house but at a ski resort, which was still way more posh than any hotels the other girls had been to. On the other hand, Mugi acted like it really wasn't a big deal.

After Azusa, Mio, and Ritsu got to the bottom of the slope, Ritsu went back up so she could redo her crazy descent down the course, and Mio and Azusa went to the beginners' course to check on the other two. When they arrived, Mugi was coming down for the fifth time and Yui was watching her and applauding with her skis and ski poles propped up against a nearby tree. "Typical Yui-senpai," Azusa sighed resignedly.

"Oh, Azu-nyan!" exclaimed Yui as she spotted Azusa. "Want some candy? I brought it just in case!" She pulled out a completely stuffed pink bag from the pocket of her coat side.

"Senpai, you do know that we're on a ski trip, right? And that we're actually supposed to burn off calories, not gain more?"

"Azu-nyan, remember, I don't gain any weight no matter how much I eat, so it's fine."

"You're still ruining the whole purpose of skiing," Azusa mumbled, but only to herself. "Do you want me to give you some pointers on skiing correctly?"

"Sure thing!" Yui bolted upright with a newfound energy, grabbed her ski poles and skis, and went back up the slope. Mio, who wanted pointers from Mugi, waved at Azusa to go on ahead, as she was heading back to the intermediate course Ritsu was still at, along with Mugi.

The next couple of hours were awkward ones. Yui was literally starting from scratch with her skiing skills and barely knew how to move around in her skis. If she actually made it down the course, she did it by tripping over or running down everything in her path, not to mention spilling a huge pile of candy behind her. After picking up the last piece from the ground-again-Azusa suggested that they save it for tomorrow, and to let Ritsu and Mugi teach her, because Yui was hopeless at skiing. She only said the last part in her head, though. Yui pulled herself out of a pile of snow and heartily agreed. "It's time for dinner, and that's the most important meal of the day!"

"I think that's breakfast." Good to know that she was still as airheaded as ever.

The two of them trailed back to the building where they'd rented their skis, though Azusa had to drag Yui along for part of the way, attracting strange looks, because she was too tired. They eventually made it back to the hotel, and Azusa was about to peacefully settle down in her room before dinner (each of the girls got their own rooms, at Mugi's insistence) when her door crashed open, revealing a very flustered-looking Yui.

"What's going on, Yui-senpai?" College had given her a slight sense of sarcasm, so she added, "Have you finally decided to stop giving up snacks?"

"I lost one of my mittens!" wailed Yui, flopping down on the floor next to Azusa. "I think I left it at the beginners' course, and I need you to help me look for it!"

Azusa's heart softened. "Is it that pair your sister gave you? She talked to me about that once, that you've never lost them because they were a gift from her." Yui nodded sadly, and Azusa sighed. "Fine. But we're coming back before dark, even if we can't find it. And you're not bringing any candy with you, either, because you're going to spoil your dinner."

"Okay," called Yui, because she was already halfway out the door.

As soon as Azusa stepped foot outside again, she regretted it. It was darker than she thought outside, since it was nearing 5 o'clock, and the wind that had been light that afternoon had picked up and was blowing in their faces. She and Yui headed towards the ski lift, but one look at it told them that it was closed for the evening.

"Are they on a dinner break or something, Azu-nyan?"

"I guess so. We'll have to walk."

Yui started griping and groaning just as Azusa recalled something. "Uh, senpai, what direction is the beginners' course anyway?"

"I left a trail of candy marking the way! All we'll have to do is follow it!"

Azusa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "But what way from the hotel? I went up to a completely different course."

"Umm…the right, I think. You had to go right from the hotel. Oh, I remember now! Let's go!" And with that, Yui dragged Azusa down the path with a renewed vigor.

By the time the two girls finally reached the entrances to the ski courses and took the one to the furthest right, the sun was dipping down lower and lower behind the mountains. "This," puffed Azusa as they sort-of jogged up the hill. "Is taking longer than I thought." She was starting to be able to see her breath in the air in front of her. Even Yui was silent as they ran, trying their hardest to keep a lookout for the mitten. "How did you lose it, anyway, senpai?" demanded Azusa, ducking around a tree. Wait a minute, there weren't any trees right on the path! "I thought you were wearing them."

"Well, you were really warm, so I took them off and put them in my pockets. And then they fell out."

Azusa suddenly turned red thinking about having to drag Yui back to the hotel. Then she sputtered, "Just where did you put your hands, Yui-senpai?!" Yui chuckled a little but said nothing.

After Yui almost ran into a tree for the third time, Azusa came to the conclusion that they were lost. "You led me into the woods, didn't you?" she grumbled.

"Sorry, Azu-nyan. All we-brr-have to do now is find my candy trail and go down it 'till we find my mitten." Yui was shivering, and in the faint light left over from the sun, Azusa saw that her left hand was bright red. She took it in both of hers, which were encased in a pair of gloves, and gently rubbed Yui's hand to get it warm. "Thank you," Yui said. She suddenly wrapped an arm around Azusa's shoulder for the second time that day, and though it felt a little awkward, the other girl was warm next to her. "Whoopsie!" Yui exclaimed after a little while of standing around and trying to get warm. "I just completely forgot! The beginners' course was the trail on the far left, not the far right."

Azusa's mouth fell open and she resisted smacking Yui like Mio did with Ritsu sometimes. "Y-you mean, not only have we wandered into the woods somewhere, but we were on the completely wrong path to begin with?!" Glancing up at the sky, she saw that only a tiny bit of it still had color. The sun had almost completely set, and judging by the feel of it, the wind was now even stronger. Not to mention, it seemed to be snowing. "What do we do?" moaned Azusa. She shoved her hands in her pockets and started walking away from Yui. Forget about finding one small mitten, but how would she find the hotel?

"No, Azu-nyan, watch out!" Yui cried, lunging for Azusa. The next thing they knew, both of them were tumbling down the steep slope until Azusa reached out and caught the trunk of a tree. Yui did the same with another nearby one. Eventually they both recovered and stood up, their boots sinking into the already inch-deep snow.

"At least now we know which direction to go, if that way's up the slope. All we have to do is head down here and get back to the hotel-"

"No way!" Yui cried. "We have to head to the beginners' course and find my mitten! I'm not leaving till we do! It could be covered up by snow if we just give up, and then I'll never find it!"

Azusa sighed. "Do you have your phone with you? Maybe we can just call for help."

Yui patted her pocket. "Ah! I forgot it!"

"You have everything in there, don't you?" Azusa asked resignedly, pulling her own phone out. "Shoot. No reception. Figures, since we're in the mountains and in the middle of nowhere. But we can use it as a flashlight, I guess. What way do you want to go?"

"That way!" Yui cried, pointing to the left and slightly down.

"Senpai, you know that the way to the beginners' course is to the right of here, don't you?"

"Lead on, Azu-nyan!" encouraged Yui, wrapping her arms tightly around Azusa in the space of a second.

So they kept walking through the cold and snow. Azusa thought that if she got out of this alive, she'd never go skiing again. The dim light of her phone helped keep them out of the way of trees, though they had to slide on the snow a bit to go down the slope and Azusa almost lost the phone for a brief period. Yui never once let go of Azusa, either for comfort or warmth, and wasn't letting go of her hand, either. If they weren't in the situation they were in, Azusa would've been seriously embarrassed.

Azusa let them stop at a small break in the trees. Yui was digging around in her pockets, and with a small cry of surprise, pulled out two pieces of candy. She handed one to Azusa. "Dinner, I guess," she said mournfully.

"Remember when you gave me a piece of candy as an early White Day present?" asked Azusa reminiscently, plopping the candy in her mouth. "That was nice." She put her phone back in her coat pocket and went back to holding Yui's bare hand, which wasn't as cold as it had been.

"Yeah," Yui said dreamily, which told Azusa that she either had no idea what she was talking about or that she was succumbing to frostbite.

"Come on, then, let's get going before either of us gets too cold." Azusa didn't want to admit it, but she was a bit worried about Yui. If her senpai randomly went into the woods without a flashlight or cell phone and with only the guidance of a trail of sweets-which could may well be covered in snow-to find her missing mitten, then how exactly was she coping with life? Azusa shook the snow out of her hair and pulled Yui along beside her, going back to relying on the light of her phone. Then again, what kind of a kouhai was she, to blindly-without a flashlight of her own-follow her airheaded senpai into the woods? At this point, Azusa was unsure about either of them.

"It's so cold," whined Yui after another few minutes. "Snow, snow, go away, come again another day-"

"No singing," Azusa said. "I'm trying to see if the trees are thinning out here."

"But Azu-nyan, we're in the same band, so you should be used to my singing by now."

"It's not about the singing, Yui-senpai, just let me-" There was an unexpected crunching noise under her feet at that moment, and Azusa completely stopped, letting Yui crash into her. She stooped down and shone the light of her phone onto the ground while feeling around for whatever she'd stepped on at the same time. Her gloved hand came back with a piece of candy.

"Hey, that's one of the ones I dropped to make a trail! Keep going, Azu-nyan!" Yui's breath, right next to hers, was visible in the freezing air. The snow was still coming down. Azusa and Yui walked a few paces farther, with Azusa shining the light of the phone all around. It eventually landed on another piece, and from there, Yui spotted another piece. It was a bit difficult, but they managed to follow the pieces through the snow. Some half an hour later, the woods eventually cleared out and a familiar hotel building stood before them. Azusa resisted the urge to run toward it, screaming, "Sanctuary!" She did start sprinting, but the Yui Hirasawa clinging to her made it a bit hard. Finally they both collapsed in the warm lobby, snow falling everywhere.

"Yui? Azusa!" Mio, Mugi, and Ritsu dashed up to them. Mio kept talking. "There you are! You've been gone for quite a while, and we were so worried!"

"Sorry, Mio-chan," Yui said, getting up from the ground. "We got lost in the woods and followed a trail of candy back here!" Ritsu and Mugi laughed, and it did sound a bit unbelievable to Azusa.

"By the way, Yui, is this yours? I found it right outside the hotel when we were looking around for you two." Ritsu held out a familiar-looking mitten to Yui. Her brown eyes widened and she leapt into Ritsu's arms.

"Ricchan! You found it for me!" Yui screeched in delight, clutching Ritsu to her. Once she let go, though, Azusa turned her death glare on her senpai.

"Yui-senpai, I'm going to kill you! You made me go out in the freezing cold when it was right here the whole time?!" Azusa lunged for Yui and managed to tackle her to the floor.

Yui giggled. "Um, Azu-nyan, there's people watching us."

"Ehh?!" Azusa sprang away from Yui, and whether it was because of this or all of the other times she'd been physical with her Yui-senpai, she turned a bright, bright red.


End file.
